Deflategate

Probably catch Gronk spiking them repeatedly....it's not against the rules, right? LOL!

 

Again, it's not whether or not the advantage affected the outcome because what if the game was close and a Pats wr makes tough catch to win it with a deflated ball. Then you have a huge problem! Breaking rules for competitive advantage is the worst thing you can do because it has the potential to damage the integrity of the game. What if we find out they do this all the time and perhaps it helped them win some games. Still no big deal?

Whether they deflated the balls on the sideline or figured out a way to purposefully circumvent the rules, it's cheating.

Mark McGuire used a substance which had the same affects as a steroid but wasn't technically a steroid. Did he cheat?

 

Short of Jackson who intercepted it, none of the Colts touched the deflated balls! How would they have known?

 

My guess is that the backup balls were inflated to a level above the absolute minimum since both teams would be using them (Luck may have noticed at that point), but that is just my speculation.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that the Pats are completely innocent of gaming the situation. I would bet that the 11 of 12 primary balls were set at the minimum compliance pressure in order to be in Brady's comfort zone. My point is that, from a rules infraction standpoint, I would be skeptical that it can be proven that the rules (as currently written) were broken.

As I mentioned in a previous post, if the NFL wants this more tightly regulated in the future they need to tighten up the rule, specifying the environmental conditions in which the pressure specification is to be measured for conformance.

Also, I just took the liberty of doing an ideal gas law calculation on this (probably the first time this has been referenced on this site LOL). If the ball was inflated to 12.5 psig in 70 degree F conditions then allowed to get to 30 degrees F, the pressure would wind up being around 10.5 psig. While this is definitely not exact, it provides a decent indication that the temperature drop theory is not necessarily "out there".

As can be seen, I am on vacation this afternoon....doing ideal gas law calculations in a Titans chat room...wow that is nerdy.

 

There is so much conflicting information coming out from these "sources" that I will hold off speculation until the NFL releases anything official.

 

NFL's official statement

https://nfllabor.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/1-23-15-nfl-statement-2.pdf

Sum it up, not a damn thigh is happening

 

Punt returners dont touch the ball? Where is Josh Cribbs when you need him...
And the Colts CB Greg Toler was holding a Julian Edelman drop. SS Mike Adams was seen holding another Pats bobble. They did't seem to suspect anything either.

 

Jackson, Toler, Adams, and Cribbs thought nothing of it when they handled those footballs, this is waaay overblown

 

Uh uh huh, you said delfated balls.